Workshops

Make some time for your writing while you Shelter in Place. Join Grotto writer Lyzette Wanzer for an evening of writing designed to shift focus and open a vein of creative energy to keep you writing during this time. We'll have prompts, accountability, timed exercises, and sharing. Finish a story you've started or free-write your way to something new. Find inspiration and energy writing in virtual community!

This workshop, especially designed for African American, Latinx, Asian, and Middle Eastern descent writers working in all genres, is an empowering, vital workshop addressing the practical concerns of establishing a sustainable literary career in the Bay Area. The truth is that building a writing career requires both creative and business skills, just as it does for other artists. If you are serious about your writing and want to increase your professional opportunities, as much work needs to happen outside of the studio as within it. In this intensive boot camp, you will learn:

How to harness professional free and low-cost tools to help track your writing output, submission markets, and contest entries, and grant and M.F.A. applications

How to develop and use a literary calendar to increase opportunities

The importance of having an artist statement, and how to write an effective one

How and where to locate solid, trustworthy submission, grant, fellowship, and residency markets, including markets specifically geared for underrepresented writers

How to strengthen your grant and funding applications

How to use your LinkedIn profile to develop local, regional, and national literary opportunities

How to create a professional literary CV

You will receive a comprehensive packet of handouts to guide you as your career begins to build. This bootcamp is geared for creative writers who are ready to engage in the not-so-sexy but essential steps necessary to advance their careers and promote their work. A laptop, tablet, or notebook computer is required for this class. Register at https://www.sfgrotto.org/events/professional-development-with-lyzette-wanzer.

"LinkedIn is just about finding a job.""It's for executives, lawyers, and doctors, and other C-suite/corner office corporates.""Those endorsements don't really mean anything.""I'm already on Facebook, so I don't need it."

LinkedIn is a social media marketing tool that editors and writers often overlook. It's a very powerful networking tool that offers a lot for us, and in the Bay Area, is critical for success. Learn how to maximize LinkedIn to increase your visibility, get noticed, and open significant opportunities. In this two-hour workshop, learn how to:

*Prepare a profile that marks you as a professional, rather than a hobbyist*Promote yourself and your work by harnessing LinkedIn's full features*Network with editor organizations that help to spread news of your work to wider audiences*Learn the power of LinkedIn's Groups

A laptop, notebook computer, or iPad is required for this workshop. Register at https://www.the-efa.org/event/optimize-your-linkedin-profile-with-lyzette-wanzer.

This workshop is open to writers who are considering applications for--or wish to learn about--writig grants, fellowships, scholarships, or residencies. Many writers aren't aware of the many different types of funding opportunities available to them. More information and workshop registration is now available.

Ready to elevate your writing career to the next level, but not sure how to present your background in an appropriately professional fashion? Whether you have a long list of publication credits or just a few, you need a literary resume that both adheres to professional standards and encourages panelists, editors, and reviewers to learn more about your work. Register for this San Francisco workshop.

LinkedIn is a social media marketing tool that writers often overlook. It's a very powerful networking tool that offers a lot for us, and in the Bay Area, is one way to accelerate your success. Learn how to maximize LinkedIn to increase your audience, reinforce your funding applications, meet the Bay Area's literary movers and shakers, and open opportunities for reading, conference invitations, and publishing. In this workshop, learn how to:

Prepare a profile that marks you as a professional, rather than a hobbyist

Promote yourself and your work by harnessing LinkedIn's full features

Network with author organizations that help to spread news of your work to wider audiences

Writers, it's time to set aside the bevy of excuses about why you're not sending your work out to journals, newspapers, magazines, and contests. In this boot camp-style workshop, you'll focus on submitting a maximum of two short stories, articles, essays, and/or creative nonfiction pieces to 15 markets in just five weeks (poets should be prepared to submit a group of three to five related poems.) In a safe, supportive community, you'll begin by learning proper submission etiquette and protocol, avoiding pitfalls that mark you as an amateur.

Learn where to locate legitimate, respectable markets, including literary journals, contests, and grants

Become proficient in navigating the publication landscape

Get practical tips on formatting professional submissions

Find out what the most popular submission platforms are and how they make your life easier

Write your author bio

Create a Research Collection Sheet to identify individualized markets

Select and use a professional submission tracker

This workshop is designed for committed writers who have one or two finished, polished pieces (three to five pieces for poets) of 5,000 words or less that are completed, proofread, and ready to send out for publication. A laptop, notebook computer, or iPad is required for this class.

Ready to elevate your writing career to the next level, but not sure how to present your background in an appropriately professional fashion? Whether you have a long list of publication credits or just a few, you need a literary resume that both adheres to professional standards and encourages panelists, editors, and reviewers to learn more about your work. When done properly, this resume helps you:

land funding for your writing projects

get invitations to present work at conferences

obtain reading opportunities

present a strong residency application

get editors' and publishers' attention

be taken seriously as a writer, and not a hobbyist

Bring your laptop, and leave with a shiny new resume that makes your accomplishments--whether large or small--stand out! Registration is open until seats fill.

This workshop is open to writers who are considering applications for–or wish to learn about–writing grants, fellowships, scholarships, or residencies. Many writers aren't aware of the many different types of funding opportunities available to them. Or they think they've got to have a book out, or a long list of publication credits, before they can apply for grant money. That's just not true.

This workshop will cover:

the best places to locate opportunities

the dreaded Project Statement, Work Plan, or Goals and Objectives question

how to demonstrate a rising trajectory (remembering that most people who are awarded grants are on their way up, not already there)

using headings and "buckets" to make your statement navigable

how to craft clear, concise personal or "artist" statements (leave this class with a completed first draft in hand!)

why the marketing angle is so important

creating an effective literary resume (you'll have a nice new one at the end of class!)

This is an intensive hands-on workshop; laptops, tablets, or iPads are required. Register at (415) 393-0101 or TEdwards@MILibrary.org